I got to know about Sriracha sauce a few months ago while browsing foodgawker, the ultimate site for drool-worthy food photos. I was looking for inspiration on making lobster rolls and came across a recipe using Sriracha mayo. That lobster roll looked divine. I eventually made a version with fresh shrimps which tasted very good with the hot sauce.

Sriracha is basically a type of chilli sauce made with peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. I have tried it with chicken chop, fries, seafood and as salad dressing, and my favourite way to eat it has got to be sriracha + mayo either as a dip for seafood, or drizzled loosely on top of salads.

It isn’t like the garlic chilli sauce that most of us are familiar with. It tastes garlicky yes, but the combination of garlic + vinegar is what does it for me. Food writer Tan Hsueh Yun from The Straits Times wrote about Lingham’s Sriracha Sauce, and this is the brand I use too. I got it from Giant for $3+.

I like to use it to dress up my salads. Mix it up with some mayo, mustard and lemon juice, then squeeze a little on top of lunch. I don’t usually drown my salads in sauce.. just a small squirt on top is enough for me. I’d rather have a small amount of mayo-based dressing than spoonfuls of vinaigrette. I’m not a big fan of vinegar and oil and would rather skip it than have my salads turn limp in it.

I used to buy Kewpie Hot and Spicy Dressing but I don’t do it anymore. Now I can make even tastier dressing for less half the price! p/s- that’s the amount of dressing I drizzle on top of my salad (about half a tablespoon), but of course you can add more.

When I make a batch of salad, I usually make enough for 3 breakfasts (for Jason) and 3 lunches (for me).. so the recipe below is for 6 servings.

Mesclun Salad with Sriracha Mayo Dressing: One of my favourite lunches to pack to work!

The post Low-carb lunch idea: Mesclun Salad with Sriracha Mayo Dressing appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I’m quite in the mood for recipe challenges these days, it seems!

Philips rounded up a group of bloggers (including me!) for a friendly “challenge” to create a dish with their Philips Avance Noodle Maker using one secret ingredient: LEMON! I thought of doing a cold pasta salad immediately cos I cannot associate lemon with a normal noodle dish! I can’t wait to see what the others come up with then I can try making it too!

Oh and scroll down for [GIVEAWAY] details!

And now more on how to make noodles. When using the noodle maker, you need two basic ingredients. Flour and a type of liquid. For a 2-person serving of noodles or pasta, you use 250g flour and typically 85 ml to 95ml liquid. Your liquid can be egg + water (like in the case of the wanton noodles I shared on Facebook last month), carrot juice, apple juice, spinach juice, tomato juice.. the possibilities are quite endless!

The machine is quite idiot-proof to use:

1. Add 250g plain flour.

2. Select bounciness level/timing and press “Start”.

3. Trickle in the liquid. Wait a few minutes (8 minutes in this case!) and your penne is ready!

Watch the video which I shared recently on my Facebook page:

Look at the texture of the penne. Firm and perfectly kneaded.. not soft nor soggy!

The challenge called for lemon juice but didn’t mandate we had to use it IN the noodles or simply as a component of the entire dish. I didn’t think using “pure” lemon juice would work because 85 ml of fresh lemon juice and flour? The acid would react with the flour and break it down, no? So I thought of a combination of yuzu AND lemon. Ahh.. yuzu! Refreshing, tangy and sweet. I think it would go quite well with the pasta!

And I didn’t regret using yuzu! The best thing is you don’t even have to use freshly squeezed juice. Package juice works just as well for convenience. Combined with the crunchy peppers and savoury ham, this salad really hit the spot. After tossing all the ingredients together, I gave it a final touch with some extra yuzu + lemon juice as dressing. You could also add thin asparagus. I think it’ll go very well with the yuzu-lemon pasta! Have fun!

And now for the [GIVEAWAY]!
Philips is giving away a complimentary 6pc set of kitchen utensils to one of budgetpantry’s readers! All you need to do is vote for my Yuzu-Lemon Penne creation by clicking “LIKE” and “SHARE” on the Facebook post here and comment with your email address for me to contact you if you’re the winner. One lucky reader gets to win the GIVEAWAY FOR SURE even if I don’t win the friendly recipe challenge eventually. How’s that for cool? Here’s what included in the set:

1. Flexible Turner
2. Slotted Spoon
3. Slotted Turner
4. Ladle
5. Spaghetti Server
6. Solid Spoon
7. Rotating Stand to hang all the tools!

Pretty nifty, no? The complimentary set will be delivered to the winner’s home. No pickup necessary. Contest ends 7 Jan 2015, 2359h, SG readers only. Non-SG readers can still “LIKE” to post to vote! Thank you everyone! I’ll be using Random.org to pick the winner.

Start voting already! Here’s the Facebook post again for you to “LIKE”, “SHARE” (to public!) and comment. Good luck!

*Note: This isn’t a sponsored post and I wasn’t obliged to come up with this post, but I was gifted the noodle maker for review. Thank you Philips Singapore!

The post Yuzu-Lemon Penne Salad + Philips GIVEAWAY! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.